Many students feel that adults don’t listen and that as teens, they have little power to affect change.  In this lesson, students will explore the successful youth movement during the Vietnam era to change the voting age from 21 to 18‐years‐old. Students will understand that largely due to the valid protests from young people (“Old enough to fight!  Old enough to vote!”) the Twenty‐Sixth Amendment was ratified.

During the American Revolution, the colonists formally Interactive 1.2 Too Late To Apologize declared themselves free from the British with the Declaration of Independence. You learned about the Revolutionary War in fifth grade, and are free to download the fifth grade version of this resource for further review. The Revolutionary War was winding down when the colonists began work on a new government for the nation. The Continental Congress created the Articles of Confederation and sent them to the states to ratify on November 15, 1777. The Articles of Confederation served as the foundation document of the nation’s first form of government from March 1, 1781 to 1789.

George Washington served the country for many years before becoming President. He was a general during the American Revolution and served as president of the Constitutional Convention, where the Constitution was written. After all that, he was ready to retire. The electoral college had different plans for George Washington though. All 69 electors chose him to be the first President of the United States of America. George Washington was the only President to receive all of the electoral college’s votes. Americans supported the choice for President and celebrated Washington as he traveled from his home in Mount Vernon to New York City, then onto the nation’s capital. On April 30, 1789 George Washington, at age 57, took the first oath of office as President of the United States under the Constitution. John Adams was his vice president.

President Jefferson’s style was very different from that of Adams and Washington; because of that, many Americans looked forward to his inauguration. As people from across the nation gathered in the new capital to listen to Jefferson’s inaugural address, many wondered if the less formal president did in fact, want to limit the powers of government. They didn’t have to wait long.

Up to this point you have been studying the domestic issues that faced the new nation. In this chapter we’re going to study the same relative time period as the last chapter but focus more on foreign policy issues. By 1803, America was tangled in a war between Great Britain and France once again. Both countries were taking American ships that were trading with their enemy. President Jefferson tried hard to follow Washington and Adams lead and remain neutral.

Americans moving westward in the mid-1800s did so for a variety of reasons. Stories of rich farmland in the Oregon Territory interested many to sell everything they owned and head out for a new beginning. The flood of immigrants from Europe, along with a higher birth rate, fueled a push west as large-scale farming could help support growth in the East. The US population had grown from more than five million in 1800 to more than twenty-three million by the mid-1800s. Others looked to make it rich in the expanding fur trade and were up for the adventures of trapping. In 1849, the news of gold in California caused a mad dash for wealth. Some were curious about the mysterious West and felt that what lay across the Mississippi River might just be the change they were looking for. Whatever the reason, an estimated 4,000,000 Americans moved into the new frontier between 1820 and 1850 and in the process shaped a new identity in the American West built on ruggedness, new feelings of freedom, and a spirit of individualism.

The nation continued to grow in size and wealth, each region experiencing its own different kind of economic growth which caused them to develop differently. Citizens differed across regions in their ideas of political, economic, and social progress. For the success of the growing nation, Americans throughout the country tried to compromise on their disagreements. Unfortunately, no amount of compromise could minimize the harsh growing pains the nation was about to experience.

Just like the industrialization that took place in the North, the geographical features of the region played just as important a role in the agrarian way of life in the South. Because geography was responsible for almost every aspect of life in the South (as it was in the North as well), its significance cannot be understated.

Throughout this inquiry students investigate the complex interconnected roles of individuals and groups as well as the economic, social, and geographical forces that contributed to the American Revolution. Students consider issues concerning historical determinism as they move toward an evidence-based argument as to whether or not the war was avoidable.

This inquiry examines the emergence of the women's suffrage movement in the 19th century as an effort to expand women's political and economic rights, and it extends that investigation into the present.

In this lesson, students explore the various options for ending the war with Japan by simulating a meeting of President Truman’s advisory committee.  Students will also evaluate Truman’s decision to drop two atomic bombs on Japan. This activity is adapted from a lesson by the Constitutional Rights Foundation (http://www.crf‐usa.org/bill‐of‐rights‐in‐action/bria‐15‐3‐b‐choices‐truman‐hirohito‐and‐the‐atomic‐bomb.html.)

What is Juneteenth? Why do we recognize it? What does it have to do with the history of North Carolina and the United States Colored Troops? This 20-minute video explores North Carolina's Juneteenth story.

In this lesson, students participate in a kinesthetic activity in which they review various quotes by and regarding Abraham Lincoln, discussing the various ideas and attitudes exhibited by America’s sixteenth president.  Students will then read Walt Whitman’s “Oh Captain!  My Captain” and create their own poem based on Abraham Lincoln.

This interactive timeline highlights the stories of the women of Vance Birthplace in the mountains of North Carolina. From prehistory to the twentieth century, students can explore each woman's experience of life in the Reems Creek Valley through videos, primary and secondary sources, and graphics.